The Wayans Touch

From “Sparkle” coming in August to “Total Recall” to the new “Spiderman” film, it seems like everything old is new again. Remakes are so popular that we believe Hollywood is either running out of ideas or playing it safe, figuring that if audiences liked it before, they’re going to like it again. That got us to thinking. The Wayans family does a whole lot of movies and has a whole lot of family. They’re like the Jacksons – if the Jacksons were all successful. There’s not only the first generation of Wayans – Kim, Damon, Keenan Ivory, Marlon and Shawn, there’s already a second generation with Damien (son of Wayans sister Elvira) Damon Wayans, Jr. and Michael (sons of Damon) as well as a few more. But since Shawn and Marlon have been in some of the most hilarious Wayans projects and even had their own short-lived TV sitcom, we thought they’d be great in some “recreations” of famous movies. Here’s a list of the top five movies we think Shawn and Marlon should take on.

SINGLE WHITE FEMALE
They know all about “white chicks” so why not have Shawn and Marlon remake the 1992 movie about a roommate gone wild? In the movie, as you may remember, Bridget Fonda plays Allison “Allie” Jones who places an ad for a roommate who turns out to be not quite what she expected. The roommate Hedra “Hedy” Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) seems all right at first, but then turns into a psycho intent on keeping Allie to herself, impersonating her and then attempting to kill her when Allie won’t go along. The Wayans brothers could make it a comedy and play the roles in drag as they did in “White Chicks” or they could flip the script literally and play brothers who deal with the murderous jealousy of one brother who tries to steal the other’s identity and then kill him. With all the new technology they could incorporate into the movie, this is sure to be a hit and could help them be taken more seriously as dramatic actors.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
This classic western bromance featured Paul Newman and Robert Redford as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, two outlaws who make their illegal living in the Wild Wild West. The friends are part of a robbery gang that is heavily pursued by the authorities. While Sundance’s schoolteacher lover helps them out, they eventually decide it’s time to go straight but as it always happens, circumstances conspire against them and they go out in a blaze of glory. The Wayans brothers could make this a comedy, paying homage to the western like Mel Brooks did in the famous 1974 movie “Blazing Saddles” or they could play it straight, once again showing their dramatic chops. Since their real-life brothers, the bromance part would be easy. We like Marlon as the Sundance Kid and maybe Kerry Washington as his lover, since she plays that girlfriend/wife role really well.

LETHAL WEAPON
The ultimate buddy films are the four “Lethal Weapon” films that starred Mel Gibson and Danny Glover from 1987-1998. In the movies, the two play Riggs and Murtaugh, two cops who are far apart in age and sensibility yet who eventually develop a bond. Using the “Lethal Weapon” films as their inspiration, the Wayans brothers could start another comic franchise by making it a spoof of buddy films. Maybe they could call it “Lethal Bad Boys With Weapons.” We can see the possibilities in this already. The Wayans should give us a call – we can help make this another money-making effort for the sibling duo.

UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT
The two movies that follow this 1974 blaxploitation classic – “Let’s Do It Again” and “A Piece of the Action” are not officially part of a trilogy but they all star Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier so that makes them related as far as we’re concerned. This remake would be perfect for the Wayans brothers as it has both comedic and serious elements. Bill and Sidney play Wardell and Steve, friends who head out to a nightclub only to get caught up in a robbery. The next day Steve (played by Poitier) finds out that he had the winning lottery ticket in his stolen wallet so of course you know what happens next – the friends turn detectives to find the thieves. Shawn and Marlon could easily flip this to make it work for them by updating it a little and adding some contemporary jokes.

BEVERLY HILLS COP
It’s not easy to follow Eddie Murphy. (Just ask Michael Strahan.) But now that the Wayans family is comedy royalty, classic 80’s movies like “Beverly Hills Cop” are ripe for remakes. What they could do is a remake that nodes to the original but adds their own flavor. It could be something like what Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill did with “21 Jump Street” – take the original idea, keep some elements and add new things to create an almost completely new project. In the 1984 original Eddie Murphy played a Detroit cop named Axel Foley who comes to Beverly Hills to solve the murder of his best friend and of course runs into comedic obstacles along the way. Since there are two Wayans brothers, they could be partners who seek out the murder of their police chief or something. Hey, they’ll figure it out.